Losing Weight, but not the Will to Live

As you might remember from this post, I've been on a diet since the early part of this year - something I've kept quiet about because I didn't want to derail myself.

Well, derailment has clearly been averted. Last week and landed bang on my 'target weight' of 169lbs meaning that, for the first time ever, I stuck to a diet and it worked!

The results are pretty obvious:


But even though I weighed in at 168lbs this morning, I'm still slightly astonished that this diet worked at all. I mean, I've tried everything in years gone by. I gave up alcohol for a month, I went on 'The Atkins' diet and I even took up Kung Fu - all with predictably limp results.

But somehow, this diet worked. And why?

Well, I think it's because it's a sensible one. It doesn't involve any gimmicks or dramatically changing your life. It's tough to stick to giving up carbs, or exercising sixteen times a week, if you've never done it before.

I credit My Fitness Pal for helping me lose the weight. It's a website where you can 'log' the food you eat every day - and works out (based on your weight, height and level of activity) how many calories you should eat in order to lose a safe 1lb a week. For me, that started off as 1,900 calories a day (and went down as my weight - and basal metabolic rate - went down too.)

The science is simple. The human body is like a car and food is essentially fuel. If your car does, say, 13 miles to the gallon, but you fill it up with two gallons every twenty miles, your petrol tank is eventually going to overflow with the unused fuel.

Similarly, the human body burns between 2,000 and 2,500 calories a day - and if you eat more than that, the excess is 'stored' as fat (which can be used as fuel for a later day.) To lose weight, My Fitness Pal works out your basal metabolic rate (how many calories you burn per day) and lets you know just how much you can eat to maintain a steady weight loss. Your body 'machine' runs at a calorie deficit - and those fat stores are burnt instead of the food you'd normally be eating.

This is the very simple secret to weight loss. It's just a numbers game. Even much touted diets like Atkins and the South Beach Diet work (if they work at all) by making you eat fewer calories - despite what they might claim!

(Atkins, for example, works on the principle of your body burning protein, rather than carbohydrates, for energy. In reality, though, people who can't eat bread, potatoes or sugar as part of their diet generally just eat less.)

This is how My Fitness Pal works. You simply 'log' every item of food or drink that passes your lips each day. Users can 'add' food to the online database, which means it's possible to accurately enter almost any brand of foodstuff into your diary. Take a look at breakfast, for example:


You can also enter how many calories you burn through exercise - which originally wasn't even an issue for me. I hate exercise for the sake of it.

But funnily enough, as I continued on my diet, I actually got into exercising. Nothing major - just a mile walk here, or a brief jog there. I tried to swim as much as I could. With My Fitness Pal it was actually kind of addictive, as I tried to 'earn' enough extra calories for an extra glass of wine or packet of crisps.

This is where my second website came in handy, Map My Run. This website lets you map where you run with Google Maps, which then works out your distance. Then, by entering the time you took to run (or walk) that route, it can work out how many calories you burned!


Finally, I started lifting free-weights. Not ridiculously - just three sets of reps with a 20lb dumbbell in each arm. Already I've started to develop muscles where I never had them before! And more muscles means a higher basal metabolic rate - meaning I burn more calories even while I'm watching TV.

The remarkable thing about all this is that I did it.

It's not that I'm lazy. It's just that I love my food and drink and I've always thought an hour of one's life is better spent reading a book than running around in a circle. I'm not into fads or gimmicks and I didn't want to sacrifice anything that I loved. I have lousy willpower.

But once I started, I discovered that it's actually remarkably easy to stick to a sensible diet. Because of the food diary, I could invent my own meals that stuck to my calorie allowance - and I've experimented with low-fat alternatives to the foods I used to gobble. For example, instead of an 'Everything Bagel' as the basis for my lunchtime sandwich (270 calories) I now have a multi-grain flatbread (100 calories) and they're not really all that different.

Likewise, after almost six months on a diet, many of these minor changes have become ingrained. I started off measuring my portions to cut calories. Now, instinctively, I just eat less. My stomach has shrunk and it takes less to make me feel full.

I've also had a few 'cheat' days. At least twice a month, Mummy Militant and I have splurged on pizza - which contains my entire daily calorie allowance in just four slices! But that fact that I'm 'good' for the rest of the week makes up for that - and I've gone from ordering 'Xtra Large' pizzas to choosing 'Medium' sized ones, which leave me full and contain half the calories!

Mini Militant loves pizza too!

I think the single most important thing I've learned from losing weight and sticking to a diet is that there are no excuses.

I used to tell myself 'I'll start a diet after the weekend' and never get around to it. I used to put off doing exercise because I'd come home from work late, or had already had dinner. But there is no time like now.

I just did it. I ate less. I did more - figuring if I started on a Tuesday, by the time the following Monday came around (when the old me would have said it was time to start my diet) I'd already have six days head start.

And when the weight actually came off, it was just more motivation to stick to it. It's addictive, seeing your curves replaced by lean lines and your trousers feel looser.

Anyway. That's my diet story. It's not exciting or inspirational - not like my friend Tony, who lost over 200lbs. But it is interesting for me to write and hopefully you to read!

F1 gets interesting...

After a life-threatening crash in Hungary, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa remains in hospital.

While news of his recovery is wonderful (originally, it was feared he might have permanent brain damage, or have lost sight in one eye) what's really ignited the fans is who Ferrari have recruited to replace him for the next races.

None other than Michael Schumacher - arguably the most legendary Formula One driver ever.

At first touted as merely fan wish-fulfillment, the seemingly-impossible actually came true. Ferrari's five-time champion will be back in the saddle for at least the next few races - perhaps right up until the end of the season.

F1 fans, who'd grown bored after a couple of lackluster seasons, have already sat up and taken notice in 2009. Scrappy underdogs Brawn GP have been hammering the competition - obliterating much of the debate about a budget cap to 'keep things fair.'

Now that Schumi's back, things have gotten really exciting.

Shop Wiki

Wikipedia's rapidly become the source for pretty much all information on the Internet.

Even John McCain's campaign for presidency used it (largely without verification) to stay informed on global issues (like, for example, the fact that there's another Georgia outside American borders.)

Wikipedia's credibility comes not only from being a prodigious source of information. It's also trusted because people are largely oblivious to the fact that you and I can edit the 'facts' displayed on Wiki to create our own version of 'wikiality'.

[For example, edit the page on Global Warming and write that global temperatures have actually gone down over the last century. Then, 'bang!' It's a fact! It's on Wikipedia, so it must be true! There you go: Climate Change solved! - Editorial Bear]

Whatever you think of Wikipedia's editorial authority, it's certainly become popular. That's largely because it is a fairly reliable source of information (especially if that information is about Japanese Anime cartoons, Science Fiction shows and sports statistics.)

That Wiki name recognition meant that I had high expectations for Shop Wiki - an online shopping resource that promises the same abundant access to information as its encyclopedic cousin.

So what is Shop Wiki?

To all intents and purposes, Shop Wiki is kind of like an online store - but don't confuse it for Amazon. Unlike that online provider, Shop Wiki not only lets you browse stuff online, it also lets you compare prices from just about every online provider - even the ones who don't pay for it.

What does that mean? Well, for a start it means that Shop Wiki can let you do an online price check instantly, rather than visiting different sites to compare costs.

But there's more than that. On the Shop Wiki directory page there's a virtual online department store displayed, making it much easier to find what you're looking for than Amazon. Also, each 'department' has a buyer's guide, to get you informed before you spend your money.

I found their buyer's guides to men's suits invaluable, for example - and found a great linen suit on Amazon for just $49!

Shop Wiki also has online 'branches' in other countries, so you can browse for bargains in France or shop for savings in the UK and only see offers from national providers.

All in all, Shop Wiki is a pretty useful place to have discovered - offering real benefits when you're shopping online and delivering results every time.

Shatner interprets Sarah Palin's goodbye speech.

If the departure of Sarah Palin from the Alaska Governor's office left you scratching your head - her strange, disjointed farewell speech probably didn't clarify anything!

Well, fortunately North America's greatest actor, William Shatner, is here to clarify exactly what Palin was trying to achieve - by reciting her speech, verbatim, as beatnik poetry.

Obama's Birth Certificate

It started 47 years ago, when Barack Mohammad Obama was born in the Aga Khan University Hospital of Nairobi.

As his Kenyan family assembled around Ann Dunham Obama's bed, to watch the beautiful infant curl his tiny fingers around his mother's thumb, a conspiracy was already under way - one which would set in motion a path of events taking nearly half a century to complete.

"This baby," said Barack Obama Sr, watching his son squirm, "will one day become President of the United States."

"But Barack," one of Obama's Luo friends warned him, "such a thing is impossible. For a man to become President of America, he must be what they call a 'natural born citizen.'"

"Well then," Obama sneered, "that is what we must make baby Barack..."

And so they did.

Teaming up with the Kenyan government, the staff of Aga Khan hospital and every employee and executive of Continental Airlines, Barack Obama Snr successfully covered up his wife's trip to Africa, instead fabricating a fool-proof fiction that suggested that she'd never left Hawaii and little Barack had been born there, instead. They smuggled baby Barack into America, successfully silencing the crew, stewards, pilots and passengers of the commandeered aircraft into maintaining this secret.

Next, teaming up with the staff at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, in Honolulu Hawaii, Obama Snr successfully managed to forge documentation recording baby Barack's birth there. Through his connections with the Hawaii state government, he successfully obtained a fake birth certificate recording Obama's birthplace at the USA, rather than Nairobi. Realising that his Muslim heritage might be a disadvantage in fifty years time, Obama changed Barack's middle name from 'Mohammad' to 'Hussein' at the same time.

But the conspiracy was not done there...

Barack Obama's friends at the Honolulu Advertiser placed two birth announcements in the local papers, in order to fool the general public into believing that the child of Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Senior was actually born in America, rather than Africa.

And only after accomplishing this masterstroke of deception, which entailed the collaboration of hundreds of state and government officials in two different countries, could Barack Obama Snr cross his arms and smile in satisfaction.

"Now," he beamed, looking forward 47 years into the future, "now all is prepared for my son to become President."

If you're unaware, the above is a brief fiction I've written - based on what's commonly accepted amongst a subset of American conservatives calling themselves 'birthers.'

These idiots - and idiots is the only accurate description of 'birthers' - are still bleating the conspiracy that Barack Obama is not an American citizen, and was actually born in Kenya. This, according to them, makes him ineligible to occupy the White House.

"We're getting ready for the Communist takeover of America with a non-citizen at the helm."

Michael Savage

'Birthers' rank even higher than 'truthers' in their idiocy.

['Truthers,' for the uninitiated, are the conspiracy theorists who believe that Bush, Cheney and a Israeli illuminati conspired to bring down the twin towers on 9/11 - Editorial Bear]

You'd think that 'birthers' would have crawled back into the woodwork, over six months after Obama took office. However, they're still at work - gloriously undermining the Republican's attempt to reform into an electable party. Just last week, 'birthers' heckled moderate Republican Michael Castle, when he announced to the audience at a town hall event in Delaware that 'the president there, he is a citizen of the United States.'

My problem with the 'birthers' is that their doubts of Obama's citizenship are just deeply, deeply stupid. Even worse than that, they're persistant.

Even today, Hawaii State Officials were forced to reiterate that Obama's birth certificate is genuine and that he was born in the United States of America on August 4th, 1961.

Obama's birth certificate, in the hands of FackCheck writer Joe Miller

The fact that they had to do this - again - shows what a farce the situation is and how stubbornly, unbelieveably stupid 'birthers' are. Just like all the idiots in the far right of American politics, they still believe in the fallacy that if you want something to be true badly enough (Obama's fake certificate, creationism, the 'conspiracy' of Global Warming) than you can 'believe' it into becoming the truth.

A birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, August 8th 1961

Unfortunately for them, that's not true. 'Truth' isn't decided by committee, or popular opinion - only by cold, sterile, objective examination of the facts. And in this instance, the facts are unequivocal. Barack Obama was born in the United States of America and is a United States citizen - making him eminently qualified to hold the office of President.

Washington Runs as Normal

I've been very disappointed in the goings-on (or, rather, lack of them) in Washington D.C. recently.

The Republicans derailed Obama's push for a rapid reform of America's health care system - but this was clearly motivated more out of partisan politics than meeting the needs of America's health care consumers.

Delaying the vote until after the summer recess smacks of laziness and self interest. From the very beginning, postponing the vote was the Conservatives' sole objective. If the Republicans really had America's best interests at heart, they'd have put their nose to the grindstone and hammered out a bipartisan solution, instead of doing what Washington does best and procrastinating.

But likewise, it's business as normal in DC for the Democrats as well. Today, Democrats Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad got caught lying to America about their preferential treatment by Countrywide Financial Corp. - the organisation blamed for throwing America's mortgage industry down the toilet.

As I wrote in this post, it was corruption, greed and sleaze on behalf of the Democrats which brought down America's housing market - not President Bush's so-called 'unregulated' market. It was politicians like Dodd and Conrad who fought to maintain the grossly overinflated mortgage market - and today's findings prove that they did it entirely for their own selfish ends.

The fact that Chris Dodd heads the Banking Committee and is responsible for solving America's foreclosure crisis would be funny if it wasn't so terrifying. He helped create this debacle. Isn't he the least qualified man in America to fix it?

Funnily enough, the list of Countrywide's 'VIP members' is filled with those responsible for perpetuating the Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac farce. James Johnson, a former head of Fannie Mae, also received a 'sweetheart' deal on his mortgages, as did Franklin Raines, who also headed Fannie Mae. It's so blatantly transparent that corruption, sleaze and double dealings were going on that I'm frankly astonished that nobody's been carted off to jail yet.

Don't get me wrong - the Republicans have their share of corruption going on. Let's not forget that the war in Iraq proved hugely profitable for Halliburton, coincidentally [or rather, not - Editorial Bear] former employer of Vice President Dick Cheney.

But even that blood-soaked, foreign quagmire pales in comparison to the level of greed and corruption that hurled America into an economic pit unrivalled since the days of the Great Depression.

It's a chilling reminder that Barack Obama's 'change you can believe in' hasn't yet materialized - and whatever your political sensibilities, anybody with half a brain can see that Republicans and Democrats are, at the end of the day, pretty much as worthless and corrupt as each other.

Why our President is a mensch...

President Obama made the mistake of weighing in on the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Gates last week - but came up with a surprisingly pragmatic solution to the two men's disagreement:

"This is nothing that couldn't be worked out over a beer at the White House," the President admitted, when pressed about his thoughts on the renowned scholar's arrest and the media firestorm it ignited. The promise of beer wasn't an idle one - the three men are set to enjoy Budweiser and Blue Moon together later this week.

Considering that beer and diplomacy go hand in hand together (America was founded on fine ales from Philadelphia's City Tavern) I think it's an inspired suggestion.

Racial profiling? Or just bad policing?

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last week or so, you've probably heard about the arrest of renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

On July 16th, Gates was returning from a trip to China. He rolled into his driveway in the back of a livery car and, after clambering out, found that his front door was jammed. He shouldered it open to gain entry to his house - at which point a neighbor of his called the police, reporting 'two men' forcing their way into the house.

Cambridge police officers James Crowley and Sgt. Leon Lashley rolled up a short while later and demanded that Gates step outside the house and show them some valid I.D.

Distraught, Gates accused the police of 'racial bias' and was promptly arrested for 'disorderly conduct,' despite providing his Harvard I.D. (which proved his identity and that he lived at that address.)

The backlash surrounding this arrest was deafening. Even President Obama made a comment, accusing the Cambridge police' of 'acting stupidly' in arresting a man for forcing entry into his own home.

Gates said that his arrest was proof that American police regularly screen suspects based on their race - the general assumption being that the officers were responding to a call because 'two black men' were forcing their way into the home.

Now that the dust has settled, the accusations of 'racial profiling' don't quite add up. Contrary to popular belief, the 911 call that sparked this incident made no reference to the suspects' race - and one of the arresting officers, Sgt. Leon Lashley, was himself black.

However, it still raises troubling issues about the police officer's lack of professionalism, courtesy and respect. The officers were right to investigate the reports of breaking-and-entering - but no matter how antagonistic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was towards them, they had absolutely no right to arrest him.

He was in his own home and had provided I.D. and proof of residence. Clearly, no crime was committed. Although I have no doubt that Gates was angry, frustrated, antagonistic and rude - and very verbal about it - you can't arrest him for that!

Jon Shane, a17 year veteran of the Newark, New Jersey police department (and professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice) identified Gates behavior as entirely understandable anger at being accosted in his own home. His only 'crime' was the much lauded farce known as 'contempt of cop.'

(Non-violent disrespect by citizens towards police officers is a protected First Amendment right and it is never a viable reason for arresting somebody.)

I think it's wrong to accuse officers Crowley and Lashley of racial profiling - the evidence is strong that race played no part in their initial decision to confront Gates (although it might have prompted them to arrest him later.)

However, they went totally beyond their mandate when they arrested the Harvard professor. That ill-considered decision is very troubling.

It reminds me that American policing is still a bit of a 'wild west' affair - and serves as a cool reminder that you should always treat police officers with reverence and respect (even if, like Gates, you don't think they deserve it.)

Editorial Bear adds: I think it's very wrong that Gates was arrested at all - but his confrontational attitude certainly didn't help the situation. While totally justified in his anger, if Gates had quietly and respectfully acquiesced the officer' s demands, instead of yelling and stomping his feet, it's unlikely he would have been arrested in the first place.

I think it's also very indicative of American society that the neighbor who reported the alleged 'breaking and entering' didn't even recognize her own neighbor - Gates has been living in Harvard for almost 18 years.

Ideas on how to fix the American Health Care system

At the moment, all talk is about 'Obamacare' and how President Obama's much-touted plans to reform the American health care system are either 'great' or 'gruesome.'

I don't care much for his proposed spending plans, but I'll tell you this for free - the sniping, bitching and whining from Conservatives about this issue is both counter-productive and, frankly, rather pathetic. They're spending so much time trying to scuttle Obama's proposals that they've totally failed to come up with any viable alternatives themselves.

Even the Republican's own 'great brown hope,' the Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, was lack-luster in his much-touted 'bipartisan solution' to the health care crisis. In a column in the Wall Street Journal, he boasted about having all the answers -but wasted his column inches attacking Obama's proposals rather than outlining his own.

The fact is, the right-wing is universally useless because they simply refuse to acknowledge the failures of the current system. When Democrats like Obama make proposals to improve, they're normally shot out the water by the GOP simply because they're not perfect.

Perfect? Perhaps not - but they're still more streamlined, cheaper, efficient or just plain better than the current system. However, because they don't match up to some hypothetical Conservative fairy-tale of what health care should be (even though it isn't), they're not willing to back any change.

But my ire isn't limited to the Republicans. Democrats are equally useless in tackling the crisis. Most of them have their heads in the clouds - with no idea about how much heath care really costs or how it could be realistically delivered.

A perfect example of how out-of-touch Democrats can be found within the pages of Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean's new book: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer.

He touts a universal, government-funded medical care system like Medicare, or the British National Health Service, seemingly unaware that neither of them work. Medicare is bankrupt and the British NHS is a crumbling, ineffective dinosaur.

No, the solution to America's health care woes lies with neither the right or the left. Politics aside, we have to tackle not only the problems inherent in the current health care system - but also embrace its strengths.

Because if you can afford it, and have access to it, American health care is still very, very good.

You might remember my wife raising money for brainstrust.org.uk a couple of years ago. That charity helped send a young woman with a brain tumor to America for treatment, because the British NHS simply couldn't tackle her deeply-embedded malignant tumor. The British health care system had given her a death sentence - but the American system gave her a new lease on life.

As far as I'm concerned, witnessing that forever won me over to the strength of the privately-funded health care system. It saved a life that socialised medicine had already written off - and for that reason alone, I'm utterly convinced that the future of medical care - including much needed, groundbreaking advancements in treatment, pharmaceuticals, care and surgery - is best left in the hands of private industry.

But saying that, let's address two real issues that have broken America's current system. These are the problems I've experience and I'm simply astonished that nobody's discussing them in all the hours of debate about 'Obamacare.'

The medical billing system is disgraceful. I challenge you to find a more inaccurate, poorly managed, bureaucratic and ineffective system than what passes for 'medical billing' in America.

The system is so convoluted and complicated, it's a wonder it operates at all. Considering that the health care system is supposedly 'private' and patients are actually 'customers,' it's disgraceful how the billing system treats them.

Where else in the 'free market' would anybody put up with a business that bills you in dribs and drabs, months after the due date - and regularly (at least 1 out of 3 occasions that I've experienced) f**ks up your invoice?

Personally, I think the whole co-pay system is ridiculously over-complicated and adds reams of expensive bureaucracy to an otherwise fairly straightforward system. It alone adds up to over 5% of current health-care costs - and still can't get the job done even then.

I think the government needs to regulate medical billing so the following is guaranteed:

1. Medical bills will reach the consumer no more than 30 days after treatment. If they do not, the consumer is not required to pay.
2. All bills should be consolidated - one hospital visit equals one invoice. Currently, a single hospital visit can lead to a dozen or more separate invoices from various 'providers' all located in the same hospital!
3. Health care providers should be fined - heavily - for incorrect invoices. This is simply unacceptable in the 21st century.
4. If a medical care invoice is incorrect and undercharges, the health care provider should not be allowed to send a later invoice to 'make up the difference.'

Sounds severe? Think about it - these restrictions would mean that medical billing finally finds itself required to deliver the same standards as regular businesses.

If you had somebody come to spray your backyard for bugs, you'd never put up with receiving six invoices, four months after they'd visited, all requiring payment for a single service you've received. Why should the medical industry be any different?

Medical billing isn't just a customer service issue - it's obvious failings mean it's an expensive liability to both insurers and suppliers. Medical billing issues result in bills not getting paid - which leads to an increase in insurance premiums and care itself. That's why this is a crucial area that needs to be addressed immediately!

But, secondly:

Covered procedures must be finalized in advance. My European friends are always astonished when I explain this to them - but in the American system, you're health care provider can pick and choose which treatments they'll cover as part of your insurance after the fact.

This leads to situations like this - in which a young woman undergoes a double mastectomy, described as a 'medical necessity' by her doctor (because she has a 99% change of developing breast cancer later in life) and then discovered that her insurance company refused to cover the cost.

Considering that medical expenses can run into the hundreds of thousands - and 60% of all bankruptcies are as a direct result of medical expenses individuals can't pay - I am simply astonished that nobody has ever thought to question the practice of agreeing to cover procedures after they've been performed.

Just like with medical billing, it's a situation that you just don't see in the 'real' free market. It basically means that the consumer has no idea exactly how much their treatment is really going to cost them before they agree to it. It's like going into a family restaurant and ordering off a menu with no prices!

My solution? Make it law that all medical insurers have to decide, within three days of a doctor or clinic recommending a treatment, whether or not it's covered by their insurance - in advance.

And if those insurers say 'no', they have to provide a quantified medical reason why they disagree with the patient's referring doctor. After all, like in the case of the woman with the double mastectomy, receiving one expensive medical treatment upfront will probably prevent years of even more costly treatment in the future.

As far as I'm concerned, until these two issues get addressed, America's health care system could be the cheapest or most expensive in the world - it will still be irreparably broken.

Somebody's cleaning up New Jersey...

New Jersey has had a long-held reputation as being somewhat sleazy. It was birthplace to slews of mobsters, gangsters and mafia thugs long even before HBO advertised that fact in their Jersey-set drama The Sopranos.

But what happened today really took the biscuit - with the FBI raiding mayoral offices in Hoboken and Secaucus (two incredibly wealthy commuter suburbs of New York City) and arresting over 30 people - included both Mayors!

Peter Cammarano III (Mayor of Hoboken) and Dennis Elwell (Mayor of Secaucus) are both spending their Thursday in Claremont Tower, the FBI's NJ headquarters. They've been arrested on charges of corruption, amidst allegations of international money laundering.

Also nabbed in the raid were Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini and state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt - leaving some people to wonder who exactly is left to run the state while some of their biggest movers and shakers are behind bars!

What elevates this story from 'obscure' to just plain 'bizarre' is that a slew of rabbis from New York City and New Jersey have also been arrested - raising many eyebrows and leaving most of us wondering just what this conspiracy was and how far it went.

Newark Major Cory Booker (a former Oxford alumni) described the events discreetly: "It's been an unbelievable morning so far."

That politics in New Jersey are corrupt is no surprise - but the fact that the FBI is actually doing something about it is. I think this is going to be a pretty explosive story when we finally learn more!

When are you too important to frisk?

In my role as Militant Ginger, I've flown back and forth across the Atlantic more than a few times (once, both back and forth in the same day!) Having tried most major carriers, my personal favorite is Continental Airlines.

[So, Continental, if you've got any first class upgrades available next time we fly, remember this endorsement! - Editorial Bear]

My fondness for Continental only increased today, when I read this story on Yahoo:

US airline probed after ex-Indian pres searched
By ASHOK SHARMA, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jul 21, 11:18 am ET

An Indian police investigation was launched Tuesday into employees from Continental Airlines after India's former president was frisked before boarding a flight to the United States.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Parliament: "This act of frisking the former president ... is absolutely unpardonable and beyond the scope of the laws of our country,"

Full story here.

I'm personally thrilled that Continental demanded former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam remove his shoes and go through a metal detector before boarding the flight - because that's exactly what the rest of us are expected to do.

It's nothing personal - I have enormous respect for Abdul Kalam - generally regarded as India's finest president and literally a 'rocket scientist' to boot (he was a former aeronautical engineer with India's Defence Research and Development Organisation.)

However, the idea that celebrities, dignitaries and VIPs should be allowed - nay, expected - to bypass airport security is just offensive to me.

The fact is, airport security is there for the safety of everybody - including worthless peons like myself, traveling economy (i.e. cattle) class. If the honorable former President of India demands that passengers such as myself are screened, frisked and prodded to ensure his safety, surely we have the right to demand exactly the same of him.

It's not a question of reverse snobbery (well, not entirely.) Having been brought up on a diet of James Bond thrillers and adventure stories, I can see that giving a dignitary carte blanche to bypass airport security is just a disaster waiting to happen in our post 9/11 world.

Hell, only last week I watched poor old Captain Jack Harkness have a bomb surgically inserted into his stomach (to blow Torchwood headquarters to smithereens.) What guarantee do I have that A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is carting the same sort of equipment around in his small intestine?

[If you missed the dreadful five-episode farce that was Torchwood: Children of Earth, you can buy the DVD here. - Editorial Bear]

No - Continental Airlines were absolutely right when they demanded Kalam pass through the metal detectors. I hope they stand firm against criticism and show the world that, when it comes down to the safety of passengers and crew, we're all equal.

Vacance en France

I'm finally back!

So sorry to have been gone for so long - but Mummy Militant, Mini Militant and Militant Ginger all hit the skies for a holiday in France. It was the first chance for Mini Militant to meet his grandparents and the first time Mummy and I had been away for America in over two years!


Mini Militant rolled in style, thanks to our backpack/stroller. It was a lifesaver! Best Yard Sale purchase ever!
Although we arrived in Paris, that's not where we stayed. My parents have a beautiful house in the Poitou Charantes, which looked stunning in the height of sunflower season.

There, Mini Militant finally got a chance to say hello to his grandparents!

He simply adored their house - there was so much to explore!

He also got to meet his cousins, Saffy and Delphy. Here's Saffy teaching Mini Militant to make sandcastles. Unfortunately, Mini Militant was far more interested in eating the sand!

Mini Militant loved petit dejeuner. It was the best part of his whole trip!

Except when Daddy would disturb him mid-repasse.


Mummy Militant got to relax, too - a world away from the hustle and bustle of New York.


But while his parents relaxed, Mini Militant was never still for long. Here he is helping my parents out on the farm!






He also had the chance to get some shopping done. He loved the French shopping trolleys - unlike the ones in America, they don't have those oh-so-restrictive safety belts!

My parent's house was just as I remembered it.


Mini Militant and I got some good bonding time in - it's nice to spend time with him, rather than being stuck in an office. We all went out exploring as much as possible (again, that backpack/stroller was a God-send!)

But Mini Militant was more than capable of doing some exploring all by himself!

And when he'd explored-himself out, there was always lots of delicious French food available to recharge the batteries. Boo adored le fromage, le pain and other classic cuisine Francais - he's looking forward to being old enough to enjoy le vin!


And, unlike his Daddy, Mini Militant was always happy to help clean up after mealtimes!

Grandmere et Grandpere had made sure there were plenty of Mini-Militant-sized toys and games to play with. He loved discovering them all!

But sometimes, the best fun is simply had nosing about somewhere new!

America's supposed to be the land of the plus grand, but for this little man, his grandparent's house was a skyscraper!

Mummy Militant and I were never far behind to ensure that Mini Militant's curiousity didn't lead him into any trouble!

We took advantage of the local French markets - there's nothing better than freshly-baked baguettes and oysters straight out of the water!


And, of course, there were seven new friends for Mini-Militant to make. He adored my mother's army of dachshunds!


...and one Whippet.
Boo was disappointed to learn that they drive on the same side of the road in France as they do in America: "Where's the challenge in that?"


But his Auntie got him the best motorised transport possible - a trainset!


Sometimes, Mini Militant was moved to adopt the classic cafe culture of 'people watching.'


Although the people were occasionally not people at all. Here he is, watching les poules!

"Eggs come from where?"


All too soon, it was time to go home - and that meant lots of traveling! The night before our flight, we stayed at a hotel with no bed for poor Boo, so he had to sleep in a suitcase (he didn't mind, though!)

Then more traveling... and more waiting...

And finally the long flight home!

We had a simply wonderful time in France. Both Mummy Militant and Mini Militant were in poor spirits to have to come home. But we're looking forward to returning soon!